Pretty Little Liars were left with mixed feelings when it was announced that fan favorite Tyler Blackburn would be leaving the hit ABC Family series to star in its highly-anticipated spinoff Ravenswood. Yay to the fact that he would be the male lead and a familiar face would be on the show, but boo to Caleb leaving Hanna (Ashley Benson) behind!

Well, guess what? It was bittersweet for Blackburn, too! We chatted with the handsome Ravenswood star on the red carpet at Pretty Little Liars' Paley Center event about the "darker" new series, and creator Marlene King teases which other familiar faces PLL can expect to see when the show premieres in October!

Of the spinoff, King teases fans can expect a "much darker" tone than Pretty Little Liars. "The secrets are darker, the stakes are greater. It's a darker, scarier, Dark Shadows-y kind of place," she says.

Blackburn continues, "It's in the vein of a lot of supernatural horror films. They've referenced a lot of old films from the ‘30s as far as feel, as far as storyline goes, it's about five teenagers who are brought together under this curse. They have to figure out what it is and how they can get out of it."

And while he calls landing his very own spinoff "exciting," he admits it was hard to learn he was leaving Rosewood and its inhabitants behind. "It's a little bit bittersweet obviously because I have so much affinity for the cast and crew. But it's part of a franchise so it still feels like part of the family in a way," he tells us. "I've sort of gotten over the bitter aspect, and I'm like, ‘Sweet!'"

Viewers will be introduced to Ravenswood in Pretty Little Liars' annual Halloween special and King teases that fans can expect to see some crossover appearances between the two shows in the future. "We don't know what the future holds," she says. "There may be some other friends from Rosewood who go to help him out in Ravenswood, but initially he's going to be our Ravenswood guy."

Of course, the ladies of PLL are sad to see Blackburn go, but Shay Mitchell tells us she's proud of her costar. "It's such a bittersweet topic of conversation because we love working with Tyler and he's so amazing, but at the same time we're so proud of him and we know that the show is also going to be amazing," she says, before adding, "I'm sure he'll come back to Rosewood!"

—Reporting by Michael Wilber

To hear more from the cast, including Keegan Allen and Sasha Pieterse, watch our interviews above!